Aviation: Aid from Rivals

France and Britain are already far along in
their $500 million program to develop their own supersonic airliner,
the needle-nosed Concorde. Last week, in a surprise turnabout, the
British and French state-owned airlinesBOAC and Air Franceplaced
six orders apiece for the rival U.S. supersonic transport. Though the
exact design of the American SST has not yet been determined, the plane
will definitely be bigger and faster, and will have a longer range than
the Mach 2.2 Concorde. The British-French move not only gave a
heartening boost to the U.S. project but stirred new doubts about the
future of the...